Refrigerator-door fastener.



J. R. MITCHELL. REFRIGERATOR DOOR FASIENER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4. l9l6.

Patented Jan. ff', 1919.

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INVENTOR. JZn/? 44W ATTORNE UNITED. sTATEs PATENT OFFICE .roi-IN n.MITCHELL, oF cnrcaeo, ILLINOIS; assreivoa 'ro WILLIAM:

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. v, 191e.

Application led November 4, 1916. Serial No. 129,457.

To all twhom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN R. MITCIIELL, a citizen of the United States,resldlng at hicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Refrigerator-DoorFasteners, of which the following is a full,

clear, concise, and exact description, reference being hadto theaccompanying drawi s, forming a part of this specification.

y inventlon relates to improvements 1n refrigerator door fasteners.

@ne of the objects of my invention 1s to provide a door fastener adaptedto both open and close refrigerator doors and one which may be operatedfrom eitherside of the door. v

Another object is to provide an efficient -reigerator door fastener. l

. ln the drawings formlng a part'of tins specication, Figure 1 is anelevation of a refrigerator door showing the outer part of my improveddoor fastener mounted thereon. 4 Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail showin asection taken on line 2-2 of Flg. 1 andA urther illustrating theinner-mechanism of the 1m. proved door fastener. y A

Fig. 3 is a vertical section, taken on line e-.a of Fig. a.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail, showlng tho bearing end of one of theoperating levers.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section, talgen through one of the operatinglevers at line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

Referring' to the drawings, the numeral 6 indicates a door, 7 a doorframe comprising the lintel 8, the osts 9--9 and the threshold 10, allof whic for convenience, may be termed the frame surrounding the door.

y improved door fastener indicated as a whole by the numeral 11, it willbe obvious, may be mounted either upon the door or upon the framesurroundmg the same. In the form of my invention illustrated 1n thedrawings, the fastener is shown mounted upon the door Gand comprises anouter operating lever 12, an inner operating lever 13, a shaft 14,bearings 15-15 therefor, an inner plate 16 and an outer plate 17..

'lhe outer lever 12 and inner lever 13 are substantially counterpartsand therefore 1t will be necessary to describe only one. Each leverconsists of an operating handle 18 at one end and a bearing arm 19 atits other end and is providedfwith a perforation 20 for the passage ofthe shaft 14, the said shaft being provlded at lts ends with a nut 21and an adjacent washer 22. Thebearings 15 for the shaft comprise asleeve 23 surrounding the, annular rib 24 on the bearing of the lever.The bearing arm of the lever is provided with a recess 25 within whichis mounted a protruding roller 26 the said roller hav- -ing a shaft 27journaled at its ends inthe perforations 28 and 29 provided in thebearing arm therefor.

' The frame surrounding the door, as for instance, the .door post 9 isprovided on its inner face with a recess 30 within which is mounted oneend of the inner bearing plate 31, the 'said bearing plate extendinoutwardly as indicated at the .numeral 32 1n Fig. 3 `of the drawings andbeing secured at its ends to the'postsby suitable means, as forinstance, the screws 33. The outer bearing v plate 17 is mounted on theouter face of the post 9 substantially opposite the inner bear# ing4plate 16 and has an outwardl extended bearlng face 34 which is extendsin the inwardly-turned portion 35 as illustrated in Fig. 3. The outerbearing plate is secured to `the post 9 by suitable means, as forinstance,

the screws 36--36. The bearlng faces of the outer and inner'bearingplates are substantially parallel throughout.

When th illustrated by .pulling theA lever 18 downwardly until itassumes substantially the position indicated by the dotted linesindicated at the numeral 37 in Fig.- 1 of the drawings. As the levermoves downwardly, the bearing arm thereof Vmoves upwardly, the roller 26traveling upwardly and outwardly on the lbearing plate 34, thus forclngthe door open. During this movement the inner 'bearing arm is movingupwardly and substantially parallel in its travel to the outwardmovement of the outer bearing arm.

When the roller of the outer bearing arm has reached the positionindicated by the dotted lines indicated at the numeral 38 in Fig. 3 ofthe drawings, the roller of the Vinner bearing arm will be substantiallyat n. mman, on

e door is in closed position, asi in Fig. l, the same may be opened vosi' same in the operation of thel levers.

. To close the door from the outside, the outer lever is moved from theposition shown by the dotted lines indicated at the numeral 37 in Fig. 1of the drawings in a contraclockwisel direction, thus likewise rotatingthe inner lever and through the action of the bearing arm thereof uponthe inner bearing plate, forcing the door to its closed position.

It will be understood that the shaft 14 is squared or similarlyconformed at its ends 40 to prevent the rotation of the levers u on theshaft and to transmit the forceapplied to the lever on one side of thedoor to the lever upon the other side of the door. When inside the door,in a similar manner the door may be opened or closed through theoperation of the inner lever 13.

It is thus apparent that by the use of my invention, one can enter arefri erator` and when within the same can tight y close the doorthereof to prevent the escape of the cold air or the inrush of thewarmer, out-v side air; likewise can open the door from the inside aswell as the outside thereof.

What I claim isV 1. In a device of the character described, thecombination with a pivoted door and a door frame, of cam bearing platessecured to the opposite sides of the door' frame adjacent the freefedg'eof the door when the latter is in closed position, said cam plateshaving their bearing surfaces oppositely ar. ranged, a shaft extendingthrough the door near .its free edge, operating levers copera- .ble withsaid shaft on the inner and outer faces of the door, each of said levershaving a bearing larm adapted to coperate with one of said cam bearingplates, one plate and one lever coperating to pull the door to closedposition and the other lever and plate coperating to force/the dooropen.

2. In a device of the character described,

the combination with a door and a frame adjacent the door, of .a shaftassing through one of said members and caring lates secured to the otherof said memers, the shaft being provided with an inside andan outsidelever each non-rotatably secured thereto, each of said levers having abearing arm adapted to engage a bearing shaft being provided with aninside and an .outside lever each non-rotatably secured thereto, each ofsaid levers having a bearin armadapted to engage a bearin plate, thebearing plates having substantia 1y parallel bearmg faces for saidbearin arms, the

,bearing faces of said plates being angular to the member to which theyare secured.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination with a doorand a frame adjacent the same, of a shaft passing through one of thesaid members, yinner and outer bearing plates secured to the other ofsaid members, a collar surrounding said shaft, a lever at each end ofsaid shaft, the collar having enlarged washer-like ends to be engaged bythe adjacent lever, the said levers aving bearing arms, each adapted toengage a bearing plate, thesaid bearing plates having substantiallyparallel bearin faces, said bearing faces being angular to t e normalpath of tl-.c levers, y

In witness that-,I claim the foregoing .I have hereunto subscribedmyvname this 30th dayof October, 1916.

- JOHN R. MITCHELL. Witnesses: f f

x r Gomma A. Breno?,

Cmmn'M. CUNNINGHAM.

